Wednesday, July 22, 2015

No, we're not all thinking that

Talk about coincidences. Yesterday Gin and Tacos had a post up about people hearing someone spout something particularly vile or bigoted and responding by praising that person for being brave enough to "say what we're all thinking." The post said, in essence, no, we're not. When someone spouts some disgusting nonsense about all Mexicans being rapists or every Muslim being a terrorist, there may be a few ignorant yahoos who can't think beyond stereotypes, but please don't assume that just because something bizarre is going through your mind everyone else is on the same wavelength.

Then last night we were watching the local news -- With Luck You See TV* has been live-streaming its news programs for awhile now -- and they had done a story on The Donald on an earlier broadcast. The 7 pm news always includes viewer comments. Not surprisingly, there was the ever so predictable "I like Trump because he's got the courage to say what the rest of us are thinking." Oh really? On what planet would anyone with two brain cells to rub together agree with the suggestion that John McCain is a loser because he spent 5-1/2 years as a prisoner of war? I don't particularly like McCain much anymore (he sold whatever soul he may have had during the last few election cycles), but the idea of mocking him for getting captured by the North Vietnamese? I'm not sure you can sink much lower than that. But some deluded viewer was actually foolish enough to publicly state, right down to providing her real name, that she agreed with Trump on a lot of the garbage he's been spouting. Thank you, naive viewer, for being nice enough to self-identify so it'll be easier for the rest of us to avoid you.

Why do people do this? Where do they get the idea that we all operate with some sort of hive mind where everyone is thinking the same way they are? Look around, people. Name a topic, any topic, from politics to professional sports to preferences in fast food restaurants and you're not going to have any trouble finding someone whose opinion is the opposite of yours, so where does this "we're all thinking" nonsense come from? Is it deliberate self-deception or just thoroughly ingrained ignorance? It's a mystery.